Hi all, Came across this forum doing a google search and it seems the right place to do all my question asking..

basically ive come over to aus from the UK, and bought a '86 4runner - something that can handle abit of off roading (nothing serious) and something that i can sleep in..

i have a few problems though, which i want to sort before i start doing any long distance.

first prob is that it uses coolant. I have no idea where its going ... the motor starts fine and doesnt smoke atall.. so i think the head is okay - cause it also doesnt get hot as long as i keep the coolant at an O.K level.. ive checked around the rad and it seems okay - pipes coming to and from the head seem good too... dont really know what to do next and dont want to keep on having to top it up...

seccond thing is that it backfires on the over-run , so when i let my foot off the gas it usually pops and bangs abit.. its done 190K KM's (about 120K miles) - is there anything i should have to do - timing etc?

any tips and general advice about these off roaders would be muchly apreciated - i plan to cover alot of miles in it and want it to be as 'healty' as it can be!

thanks all

Start with the basics, like pressure testing the cooling system.

so... try this... remove the coil wire and the radiator cap. have someone turn the engine over while you look in the radiator, if your head gasket is leaking in just the right place, you should see some churning or bubbling in the radiator. the odds of it leaking in only the exhaust or intake port of the head is slim, but not impossible. usually they will also leak some water into the oil or oil into the water but you may have gotten lucky and it just hasnt become that major yet. your engine could just be evaporating the coolant through the exhaust. might not be smoking because it isnt that bad yet, but you should be able to smell a little coolant in your exhaust.

or you just have a leak that you havent seen yet
good luck and "cheers!" from Texas

thanks for the replies

apart from the usual small amount of condensation on start up the motor doesn't smoke atall. i can smell coolant in the cab when im driving, not bad too much, just when i stop at a set of lights or something.

ive checked all the hoses and the only one i cant get to but looks a little rotten is the one metal pipe which runs under the exhaust manifold.

i cant smell coolant in the exhaust, and i dont get condensation on my hand when i hold it there for a while.

when i bought the truck the guy said his son had overheated it and cracked the block..

the rate its going through coolant would make me think that it would be smoking like hell and overheating, aswell as mayo in the filler cap.. its doing none of these..